Punta Caletas and Corcovado National Park

Jan 18, 2019 - National Geographic Quest

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A eleutherodactylus resting on leaflitter.

Our morning started with a breathtaking sunrise and priceless views of the Osa Peninsula, with its virgin forest and pristine endless beach. We disembark in Caletas Private Reserve for our morning activities, which included rainforest trail walks and lovely horseback riding. The trails gave us the opportunity to observe several types of birds, including tiger herons, manakins, antbirds, and several others species. Later we returned to our ship, where a delicious lunch waited for us, and prepared for our afternoon outing.

This afternoon we visited Corcovado National Park, which is the one of the most important treasures of Costa Rica’s national park system. We enjoyed the waterfall trail and the Pargo trail. Wildlife was amazing; we had great views of great curasow, American crocodiles, spider monkeys, white nose coati, and Central American agouti during our walks. We also had an awesome time swimming in a natural pool under the lush forest canopy.

We have enjoyed our Panama and Costa Rica expedition very much, and hope you return sooner rather than later. Hasta pronto.

About the Author

Deibys Fonseca was born and raised in the mountains of western Panama. From a very young age, his interest in nature led him to become a volunteer guide for La Amistad International Park in the administrative headquarters of Chiriqui. His knowledge in geography and flora and fauna led him to participate in multiple wildlife research projects in his community, among which highlight a population census of bats, birds and plants developed by ANCON.

About the Photographer

Nicknamed “Indio” (Indian) because of his powers of observation and quiet nature, José has almost two decades of experience working as a naturalist and photography guide; as well as being recognized as an expert birder and nature photographer in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is rich in biodiversity — over 893 bird species have been recorded in the country. Since very young José spent all of his free time in the outdoors in the forest, where he soon fell in love with the birds. He particularly enjoys listening to their calls, and watching their behavior. Oddly enough, another one of Jose’s passions is science and technology, and because of this, he was among the first in Costa Rica to experiment with digital photography. As the technology quickly improved so did his love for it. He truly believes that nature photography is the perfect combination of both of his passions.